Colombian pop star Shakira has described how a sea lion "tried to bite" her during a holiday in Cape Town over the weekend.

The She Wolf songbird, 35, has taken to Facebook to dish on the up-close-and-personal encounter while on an adventure tour with her brother in South Africa on Sunday.

"Omg what just happened to me!" Shakira wrote. "I was attacked by a sea lion!"

The singer says she spotted some seals and sea lions gathered near rocks along the shoreline, so she shuffled over to "pet them" and take a few snaps with her phone.

I think you know where this is going ...

"This afternoon I happened to see some sea lions and seals. I thought to myself how cute they were so I decided to get a bit closer than all of the other tourists and went down to a rock trying to pet them doing a baby talk while taking pictures," Shakira wrote.

"Suddenly, one of them jumped out of the water so fast and impetuously that it got about one foot away from me, looked me in the eye, roared in fury and tried to bite me."

"Everyone there screamed, including me. I was paralyzed by fear and couldn't move, I just kept eye contact with it while my brother 'Super Tony' jumped over me and literally saved my life, taking me away from the beast.

"We both got our hands and legs scratched by the rocks while trying to protect ourselves."

She later posted a photo showing grazes on her left hand, which she scored while scrambling up the rocks.

The singer said she thought the sea lion could have mistaken her BlackBerry for a fish.

"I believe what happened is that it confused the shiny reflection of the blackberry I was taking these pics with, with some sort of fish," she added. "It probably thought I was teasing it with food and then taking it away from it."

Shakira, who is currently dating Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué, wrote that she had earlier griped to her tour guide that she never gets to see wild animals up close.

"Oh well, I can't say that anymore!" she said.

"Now I'm off to see some penguins! I hope they are a bit more friendly!"

She later posted a picture of her posing with some penguins, captioned: "Today with the penguins! Definitely friendlier!"